Thanks to Mary Ann Fink and St. Louis County Parks for this concise sheet of local butterflies and their host and nectar plants. This sheet also applies to other pollinator species such as bees, hummingbirds etc.

While this sheet is specific to St. Louis Missouri, it should also be useful for many areas of the country.

This is a google drive document which allows you to download the file.Here is the link.

While Monarchs have been rare this summer, there have been lots of Black Swallowtails around laying eggs in St. Louis. I have personally raised or given away about thirty caterpillars to schools.

Luckily Black Swallowtails have a wide palette of host plants. These include, bronze fennel (their favorite this year), rue (also good for Giant Swallowtails), Golden Alexander – Zizia aptera, dill. fennel, Parsley, and Queen Anne’s lace. If you see a caterpillar on any of these plants, there’s a good chance it’s a Black Swallowtail.

If you have a large area to cover and are looking for a low maintenance option for your butterfly garden, then natives are the way to go. The list below is for Missouri natives. If you’re not sure whether a plant is a native or not, there’s a complete list at the bottom of the page. Here’s a great book about “Prairie-Style Gardens.